1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to image capture and data collection systems and, more specifically, to a system and method for integrating radiofrequency identification and optical imaging with an infusion pump.
2. Description of Prior Art
Infusion pumps are important for the administration of intravenous (IV) therapy are designed to improve the accuracy and continuity of IV infusions by allowing nurses to program an hourly infusion rate and volume. Approximately 90% of hospitalized patients receive IV medications, a large portion of which are delivered by infusion pumps. Infusion pumps are often involved in one of the leading causes of medical injuries, referred to as adverse drug events. Most infusion pump-related errors occur because the pump is programmed with incorrect settings by the medical staff. For example, leaving out a decimal point or adding a zero when setting the infusion rate can easily result in a overdose. Alternately, infusion pumps may be inadvertently programmed to administer micrograms per kilogram per minute instead of micrograms per minute. Finally, there is no link at the bedside between the patient and type of drug being administered. Conventional infusion pumps thus lack the ability to independently verify the appropriateness of the manual programming performed by the medical staff to the patient at the bedside.
Recent attempts to overcome the limitations of infusion pumps involve the integration of “smart” infusion pumps with hospital patient and medical databases. Before using smart pumps at the bedside, a facility programs the pumps with its own specific data sets, or “profiles.” These profiles specify the infusion requirements for different patient types and care areas, such as pediatric, adult, obstetrics, oncology, anesthesia, ICU, and post-anesthesia care units. Each profile includes a drug library that contains hospital-defined drug infusion parameters, such as acceptable concentrations, infusion rates, dosing units, and maximum and minimum loading and maintenance dose bolus limits, for 60 or more medications. The infusion pump will then alert the user if an infusion program is outside of recommended parameters, such as dosage, dosing unit (mcg/kg/min, units/hr, etc.), rate, or concentration. Although some infusion pumps are capable of communicating remotely with hospital databases, thereby avoiding the need for extensive programming prior to use, the risk associated with human entry of data remains.